The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c3.14

v1.c3.14

Thus all *a priori* considerations favour the views which are adopted in this work in regard to the origin of these eras; and, as is pointed out on pages 581–2, the Taxila inscription of the year 136, which first suggested to Sir John Marshall the possibility of an ‘era of Azes,’ may also furnish positive evidence of their correctness. It has been necessary to deal with these chronological problems somewhat at length because of their importance. If the theories here maintained are accepted, there will be an end to the worst of the perplexities which have for so long obscured the history of N.W. India during the centuries immediately before and after the Christian era, and the dates in all the known inscriptions of the period will be determined, with the single exception of that which occurs in the Taxila copper-plate of Maues, and which, as is suggested, may be in some era which the Çakas brought with them from eastern Irān into India.